Giants Finish Sweep of Stumbling Padres

In another indictment against the state of the National League West, the last-place San Francisco Giants have just about played themselves back into postseason contention.

Rookie Kevin Frandsen hit his first home run, a two-run shot, and Pedro Feliz also connected to lead the Giants to an 8-4 win over the sputtering San Diego Padres on Thursday and a four-game sweep.

Remarkably, the Giants (58-63) are only four games behind Cincinnati in the wild-card race, and that’s after losing 16 of 19 coming into this series.

Reliever Kevin Correia says the Giants can get back into playoff contention “if we can play like we did in this series.”

The Giants return home for a 10-game stretch that includes three against the first-place Dodgers, three against the second-place Diamondbacks and four versus wild-card leader Cincinnati.

The Giants have beaten the Padres nine times in 10 games since July 1. San Diego has lost eight of 10 overall, a slump that has dropped the defending NL West champion from the division lead to third place.

The Padres (60-61) fell below .500 for the first time since May 6.

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at St. Louis 2, Cincinnati 1: Scott Rolen tied the score with a homer in the seventh, then hit a winning single in the ninth that boosted the Cardinals’ NL Central lead to 2 1/2 games. Ken Griffey Jr. put the Reds ahead against Jeff Weaver with his 25th homer of the year and 561st of his career.

New York 7, at Philadelphia 2: Carlos Delgado ended a 2 1/2 -week home-run drought by connecting twice, John Maine pitched six solid innings and the Mets avoided a four-game sweep. Ryan Howard tied David Ortiz for the major league lead with his 42nd homer.

at Colorado 8, Arizona 4: The Rockies figured out Brandon Webb’s sinker, and Ryan Spilborghs homered. The Rockies were told before the game by Manager Clint Hurdle to stay away from anything that started belt high or lower out of Webb’s hand, and they foiled Webb’s bid to become the NL’s first 14-game winner.

Houston 7, at Milwaukee 3: Lance Berkman and Aubrey Huff homered off Ben Sheets and the Astros stopped a five-game losing streak.

Atlanta 5, at Washington 0: Oscar Villarreal threw five innings of one-hit ball in his first start in more than three years and Edgar Renteria ended an 0-for-24 skid with three singles.